


Much More a Lover than a Fighter

by Gliese1214b



Category: Stray Kids (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Historical, Alternate Universe - Royalty, I want to go to the seaside, Implied/Referenced Homophobia, M/M, Yang Jeongin | I.N is Whipped, but it's very mildly mentioned, he really is though, that's a tag i love it, this is really just 3k of jeongin being incredibly in love
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-30
Updated: 2020-09-30
Packaged: 2021-03-08 03:33:26
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,962
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26688970
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Gliese1214b/pseuds/Gliese1214b
Summary: There was every need to worry but at that moment, with Hyunjin’s dark eyes so full of hope and with freedom fluttering so close, Jeongin knew that he had no choice. He steeled himself and tried for some small semblance of a smile.“In a fortnight,” he whispered.
Relationships: Hwang Hyunjin/Yang Jeongin | I.N
Comments: 6
Kudos: 23





	Much More a Lover than a Fighter

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [뛰는 내 심장을 달래고](https://archiveofourown.org/works/26589355) by [dwaekki](https://archiveofourown.org/users/dwaekki/pseuds/dwaekki). 



> hello, I'm not sure if I really need to put this but just as an official disclaimer all characters belong to me, they are not in any way shape or form representative of or connected to the real life people from whom I took inspiration from :) 
> 
> with that said, please enjoy whatever this is  
> 

Hyunjin’s rooms smelt of roses, a humid and cloying smell that pressed against Jeongin’s neck as he paced back and forth in front of the mantle. He wished he could open a window but they had to remain closed, the black crêpe covering them matching the strip of cloth tied around Jeongin’s forearm. He could hear Hyunjin rustling around in the bedroom, probably checking for any mementoes or knickknacks that he had forgotten to pack, and a slight smile broke through the tense set of his expression as he thought of how Hyunjin had always been so fond of the little things that people gave him. All the tiny birds carved from driftwood and the dried-up flower crowns that were now bumping over each other at the bottom of one of the nondescript canvas bags that Jisung had left at Jeongin’s door three nights ago.

Jisung had also left the silver dagger that now sat against Jeongin’s leg, the gilded dove at the hilt digging into his shin and the leather of the sheath freezing even in the heat. Jeongin shifted absentmindedly as he thought of it, pausing in his pacing and stretching out his leg. The weight of it felt as though it threatened to cripple him. What he and Hyunjin were about to do had only just begun to sink in. To run away, to leave everything he had ever known and never loved…It was terrifying in the best way. They had always talked about it, Hyunjin suggesting more and more fantastical plans that glittered like stars while Jeongin laughed and the summer breeze blew pale blossoms into their hair. But now it was autumn, the breezes nipped at their heels like wolves and it felt like all the stars in Jeongin’s chest were bursting out to create great galaxies, awful in their enormity.

He was startled out of his thoughts by two gentle knocks, the door swung open with an almost apologetic air to reveal a white-whiskered man in the burnished gold of senior palace staff. Jeongin immediately attempted to take up a more casual lean against the mantle, he had a suspicion he looked rather like a particularly awkward spider, but at least it was better than a possible kidnapper of the crown prince.

“My apologies, My Lord, I was sent to ascertain the whereabouts of the Prince. The first dance has already begun, and the Queen believes that if he- ehem- if he waits any longer to make an entrance it will become his coronation celebration.” The man looked as though he would rather be facing all the fires of hell than be standing there and Jeongin wondered just how fierce Her Majesty’s tone had been, he pitied the poor man if it’d had even half of the venom that had been directed at Jeongin himself the last time he had dared to address Hyunjin informally in public.

He pitied the man, but he pushed the feeling aside to adopt the painfully familiar veneer of cold unfeeling superiority.

“I am afraid that the Prince- “

“Is in perfectly fit health and must extend his apologies for taking his time over some minor aspects of his toilette.”

Behind Jeongin the steward bowed and murmured something else, but Jeongin had no awareness of it. Hyunjin stood in the doorway to his bedroom, hair reflecting the soft lamp light in a million tiny sparks that looked like fairy’s lanterns dancing across liquid shadows. He was always beautiful; Jeongin had thought so ever since he was fifteen and they had gone to the coast for the first time and Hyunjin had stood at the very top of a sheer cliff with his arms outstretched and his fingers brushing the horizon. He had looked over at Jeongin and smiled in a way that made Jeongin think of roaring storms and falling cities and set his whole body tingling with sparkling energy.

He was always beautiful, but this was different. This was the night they escaped, the night that promised them freedom. And here was Hyunjin, dressed in royal red and silver, his hands and ears glittering and his hair unbound, pooling over his shoulders like the night itself had taken physical shape. Even through the panic that had risen up in his lungs at the sudden disruption to their plan, Jeongin felt a great wave of feeling rushing through his chest, clawing at his ribs and entangling his heart in vines made of sea salt spray and white cherry blossoms. His knees felt like they might buckle as Hyunjin crossed the room to stand at his side, just about shoulder to shoulder though Hyunjin still had a couple of inches on him.

“My thanks for reminding me of my duties, would you be so kind as to tell the Queen that His Lordship and myself will be there in a moment?” The steward bowed and retreated, though there was obvious hesitation in his eyes and Jeongin winced at the thought of the fury that would be waiting for the poor man when he made it back to the Queen’s side. Hyunjin spoke as soon as the door softly snicked shut, voice far gentler than it had been before, “My love, if you clench your jaw any harder, I believe it will permanently stick.”

Jeongin turned to him, all pretence of social propriety falling away, “What on earth are you doing? The plan was that you were to be sick and I was to stay to look after you, was it not?”

Hyunjin grabbed his hands, the chill of his rings a welcome comfort. “I’m sorry, darling, there has to be a slight change to the plan. The west gate had a guard change an hour earlier than we thought it would, Felix climbed up the lattice to tell me barely a minute ago.”

Jeongin’s heart felt as though it had turned to liquid and was oozing up his throat. “How are we supposed to leave a room full of courtiers unnoticed? Surely we will be caught!”

A slight smile played around Hyunjin’s lips, though his eyes were serious as they met Jeongin’s own. “Not if we run fast enough. We need only to make it to the stables, Felix and Jisung should have the horses ready.” Jeongin considered it, biting his lip almost hard enough to bleed, it was feasible but only just; they would have to time their moment perfectly. Hyunjin’s hand moved its way up to cradle the side of his face, thumb delicately brushing over his cheekbone.

“So sharp.” He murmured absently. “It will be alright, my love, we will ride away into the night until we reach the coast and, in a fortnight, we will be having dinner with Chan. There is no need to worry.” There was every need to worry but at that moment, with Hyunjin’s dark eyes so full of hope and with freedom fluttering so close, Jeongin knew that he had no choice. He steeled himself and tried for some small semblance of a smile.

“In a fortnight,” he whispered, “Chan can show us how to cook and you will inevitably set his kitchen on fire.”

Hyunjin grinned back, and around them galaxies burned brighter and brighter.

Jeongin had hated the warmth of Hyunjin’s rooms, but the ballroom and adjacent gardens were sweltering. There were gleaming beacons set up along the lines of French windows and all down the drive, the bronze bright against the white of the walls and drapes. Below where they stood on the gleaming parapet, a great flock of aristocrats ducked and weaved around each other, the gaudy colours adorning them making them look like exotic birds of paradise and the hushed swish of chiffon and silk was audible even over the low chatter and clink of crystal glasses.

Above it all the Queen sat like a hawkish statue, posture stiff as the marble around her and her face just as blank. Hyunjin barely spared her a glance as he pulled off his velvet jacket and handed it to a passing page with a muttered thanks. They made their way down the wide staircase and Jeongin had to stop him from removing his waistcoat as well. He received a pout for his trouble and restrained the hysterical urge to laugh, here they were on perhaps the most important night of their lives and they were still acting like silly, lovestruck teenagers.

A few lords and ladies came to try and curry favour with the crown prince, all simpering smiles and perfumed words and each fighting to supress a sneer when they caught sight of Jeongin and the black band burning traitorously above his cuff. Hyunjin brushed them all off, choosing instead to down as many flutes of champagne as he could find. He made his way around the edges of the dance floor, chasing down the poor waiters with unnerving quickness and passing what he couldn’t manage to gulp down in one on to Jeongin. Someway after the fourth or fifth terrified server, Jeongin was revelling in the effects of the party. Everything was glimmering and blurry from the champagne, with the adrenaline still pounding through his veins only adding to the heady dizziness. He felt wonderfully daring and bold. When the orchestra struck up a gentle waltz that he had once heard played on a battered old piano in a house with windows that looked out over the ocean, he extended an arm to Hyunjin with a smile.

“May I have this dance, your highness?”

Hyunjin raised an eyebrow, abandoning the hunt and stepping closer in a way that made Jeongin think slightly of one of the wild mountain cats near his birthplace in the north, wild and ferocious but with a gentle elegance that would rival a dancer’s. Hyunjin himself was just as graceful, and possibly even more likely to bite. It almost seemed like he might, as he raised Jeongin’s hand to his lips and softly kissed it, his breath ghosting across it in a way that sent sparks shooting down Jeongin’s spine.

“I would be honoured, My Lord.” Hyunjin practically purred. Around them Jeongin could hear the muted squeakings and squawkings of upset courtiers, love like theirs was not publicly criminal but it was certainly considered a shameful secret. Jeongin was supposed to be kept to darkened rooms and lamplit rendezvous, not flaunted in front of the entire court like a beloved fiancé, and of course it was borderline unthinkable for Hyunjin to do the flaunting. Although this was not the most scandalous feature of their relationship to come to light, the black band saw to that, it was certainly the most dramatic and Jeongin couldn’t help but feel a sharp thrill as he led Hyunjin out onto the middle of the floor and they began to dance.

They had done this a thousand and one times before: stumbling tipsily on the rich carpet of Hyunjin’s bedroom while the sun draped the hills in blazing orange, or listening to Minho and Changbin’s roaring laughter while Jisung and Felix did their best to drag Seungmin into a lively jig and in the background Chan played and played against the melody of the ocean waves. Jeongin could even remember the very first time Hyunjin had taught him, voice still cracking every other second while he snickered through his teasing instructions. “ _No Innie, you’ve just got to follow me alright? Come on it’s not that hard, just go one two three, one two three- There, you’re getting it! Mama come look, Innie’s learning to dance!”_

He looked now at his present Hyunjin, moving like water in Jeongin’s arms with his eyes closed and a beam of delight stretching across his face like a cat in the sun. He had managed to lose his waistcoat despite Jeongin’s best efforts and now stood in only his shirtsleeves; it seemed oddly intimate, despite the crowd around them, to see him so laid bare. He didn’t look like the Crown Prince, he looked like a young man dancing with his lover and for a moment Jeongin allowed himself to believe that was all he was, all they both were. He allowed himself to believe that in a moment they would not have to risk life and limb fleeing from Hyunjin’s next of kin; that the black band that still ached on his arm was not a mark of mourning for the greatest woman he had ever known, a woman who he had hoped would one day become his mother in law. For a single breath, Jeongin was able to simply bask in his own devotion.

But then the music ground to an ugly halt, the snapped off chords scraping the air like a blunt knife over a whetstone, and the chatter began to die. Jeongin could tell without looking that the Queen must have risen from her seat, heavy silver train rippling behind her as she stalked down the staircase, presumably with boiling thunder in her eyes. He pulled Hyunjin even closer, intertwining their bodies to such an extent that the shadows that they cast over the polished tiles melded into one and leant so close that his mouth brushed the fragile shell of Hyunjin’s ear.

“Now.”

Hyunjin took off like a lightning bolt, yanking Jeongin with him by the arm as he sprinted across the ballroom and half fell through the window closest to the immense gravel drive. Jeongin smelt the fresh night air and felt the slippery grass beneath his feet for only a second before Hyunjin was pulling them into a sharp turn, firelight turning to shadows and grass to chipped cobblestone. Jeongin’s eyes, still adjusting to the swift change, were rendered near useless to him so he relied on muscle memory and the warm sensation of Hyunjin’s hand in his to guide him; he wondered if he should have been more scared of the darkness and uncertainty, but he trusted Hyunjin. Where Hyunjin went, he would follow, so he held on tighter and ran on blindly.

It seemed to Jeongin like they ran for hours rather than seconds, though the distant shouting from the direction they had come from never got any louder. The only sound Jeongin was able to concentrate on was that of his own breathing and Hyunjin’s murmured encouragements drifting back to him through the gloom. His eyes had just begun to adapt to the dimness around them when they were unceremoniously thrust into light again, this time the hash yellow of gas lights, Gas lights that Jeongin knew only hung outside the guardhouse by the east wing, and by the stables. He breathed a blistering sigh of relief as the dusty smell of hay hit him like a sneeze-inducing tsunami. From somewhere to his left there was a cut off curse and the sound of worn leather boots running over cobblestones.

“Who goes there?”

Hyunjin let out a sigh of his own, his exasperated expression visible even in the hazy light. “You ignoramus, Han Jisung, it’s us.

There were more footsteps, this time accompanied by the familiar clop of horses’ hooves. Into the light stepped Jisung and Felix, each leading two horses by the reins and each with grim expressions.

“Apologies,” Felix said, his low voice sinking into the darkness, “With change so late in the plan, we had to be certain.” Jisung handed one horse to Jeongin and gave Hyunjin a firm prod in the shoulder. “I’m still not sure, with such bad light anyone could pretend to be His Royal Pain in the Ass.”

Hyunjin snarled and flinched away, taking the second of Felix’s horses. “I am still a Prince of the land, you know.”

Jisung sent him a feral grin as he climbed onto his horse, “Not where we’re going, you’re not.”

Felix laughed and Hyunjin retreated to Jeongin’s side, grumbling. They shared a kiss, nothing more than a quick press of lips, but Jeongin was warmed all the same. Felix let out a noise suspiciously close to a coo while Jisung let out a quiet wolf-whistle,

“Oh my, how sordid! Right before Felix’s young, virgin eyes.” Felix let out a sound of protest at that but before he could say anything more a clear, sonorous note rang out through the night. Jeongin lifted his head, letting the sound wash over and through him, resonating through his very bones.

“That’s the hunting horn, they will let the dogs out any time now.”

Jisung and Hyunjin shared an indecipherable glance, before moving their horses into a quick trot, Jeongin and Felix following suit.

“When we reach the gate,” Jisung called over his shoulder “Just keep going. We’ll take the eastern road up the river and meet Minho and Changbin at the old inn. Felix, Jeongin and Hyunjin all made noises of assent and Jeongin felt as though the night air around them was sinking into his skin, filling him with new fervour. Hyunjin looked back at him, and for the instant their eyes met, they shared smiles so wide that Jeongin thought his face would split open.

He felt as though the whole world was at his command, like he could carve a piece out of the sky and spread it on his toast at breakfast. He wondered if he should add it to the once impossible list in his mind: _Tell Hyunjin that he looks gorgeous in his mother’s colours, see the ocean again, have lunch with Chan and listen to him play the piano, watch Hyunjin burn down the kitchen, have a night of dancing with all of the others, eat the sky for breakfast._

Then Hyunjin let out a victorious yell and spurred his horse into a gallop and Jeongin followed him as the world broke into pieces behind them.

**Author's Note:**

> uh so yeah, I hope you enjoyed. that was actually my first ever published fic, I hope it didn't show too much lmao. thanks for reading :)


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